Homepage Article Brands Renews Contract

[PhilRegan]

How do you function day to day?

You must be in a rage all the time with everything.

You couldn’t have picked a worse club to follow given your outlook on life.

King definitely wasn’t a panic buy. He is low cost experienced cover for half a season. Low risk and not given a long contract, the club have learned.

I think that reason you are not seeing a strategy is because we have changed manager, and we are still wrestling with a Frankenstein squad. We have just been plugging holes and treading water. We also had a transfer ban.

I think he was personally. Limited options and pulled the trigger on him last minute.

Possibly but it's brands job to identify and undertake a strategy for the club not any particular manager.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

If he sorts the RH side out early doors in the window, it’ll be a decent start to his new contract.

I can’t say I’m confident of it happening, as he’s had a while to do it and hasn’t, but let’s see what happens.

 

[PhilRegan]

That's what back-up keepers are for. Every club has 2/3 of them, most of them don't play much. Remember Virginia being in goal for a couple games recently? That's with a backup keeper. Imagine we didn't have Lossl/Olsen, and Virginia was the 2nd keeper injured. We'd have Tyrer or Zak Luban in goal. Is that what you want? It baffles me sometimes some of the stuff I read on here.

Yes I understand the concept of back up players which I was I'm baffled that we don't have back up right back.

What I would like is a back up that is of a better quality to push our shambolic number one at the very least. Isn't that what the back up keeper is supposed to do ? Isn't that what you want ?

 

[Cork Evertonian]

It wouldn't be good for continuity, changing who the director of football is, and besides Brands and the Don Carlo seem to have an excellent working relationship. So all in all this is a great move.

 

[Bluestar]

I don't rate him but here we are got to get behind him again this summer.

He's cleared some previous wasters but then added quite a few more. I think lossl, Delph, iwobi, gomes , Bernard, kean, arguably mina, king and olsen to an extent have been bad buys.

Gbamin really unlucky on.

Digne , Richarlison, Godfrey, hamez, Allan, Doucoure arrived under his watch. Fitness issues aside with a couple of them seem good buys so far. Nkoukou and Braithwaite can't judge.

That's 10 poor and 6 good if you like.

My main concern with brands is the scouting capacity he seemingly doesn't posses. 14 of those players were either well known or flopped at bigger clubs.

That is always a very risky strategy as they normally arrive with baggage or a point to prove.

We need to find these players before they have had a chance to flop somewhere or before we need to pay a premium to aquire their services.

We also as far as know have not recieved a single transfer fee for a sale with an exception our best midfielder at the time for a modest fee when compared to the market. I could be wrong.

Mixed bag of onions really.

Lossl was a free signing for goalkeeping cover. Why is that a failure?

The signings have to be put in context with the squad needs and the actual transfers in each window. It appears to me that each window we have had more urgent needs than available budget. It is always a balancing act, addressing the highest priorities and finding a way to paper over other areas.

Not signing Lossl would have meant either no cover or spending a big slice of the transfer budget on a backup keeper. Who would you not have signed last summer, Doucoure, James, Allan or Godfrey, because that is the reality.

Lossl and King are both cheap cover. Bernard was signed on a free and played well enough that first season. He will be sold this summer and still has actual residual value.

Olsen is a loan and has given Pickford competition. We needed experienced cover on a budget and that’s exactly what he is. He has been fine for our budget.

Mina is no failure either. In fact by previous standards he is a roaring success. A player that would still command a decent transfer fee.

Brands stated with a massive (47) number of full time professionals on the books and has got it down to the right number. (27). This has not been a normal situation. He started with a sprawling and chaotic squad, with players like Sandro, Niasse, Bolasie, Schniderlin, Tosun, Martina, Pennington, Besic, Mirallas, McCarthy, Onyekuru, Dowell, Vlasic, Stekelenberg, Lookman, Klassen, Williams, Jagielka etc..

All of those consumed salary and not many returned (or will return) a fee. That is the magnitude of the problem he faced.

 

[Bluestar]

Yes I understand the concept of back up players which I was I'm baffled that we don't have back up right back.

What I would like is a back up that is of a better quality to push our shambolic number one at the very least. Isn't that what the back up keeper is supposed to do ? Isn't that what you want ?

We all want better backup players, but we have limits on budget.
The right back plan this year was clearly JJK, but that failed. They didn’t take the plunge on Sidebe and I understand why.
In the end, if we had signed a right back we wouldn’t have signed one of the other players, probably Godfrey. I personally am comfortable making do if we can get a proper solution at right back this summer. We have avoided a Sidebe shaped error that would have hampered us for several seasons.

As with Olsen, he has performed reasonably as backup. Who else would you have got on loan? As far a I can see, Pickfords performances have picked up this year and I put that down to Olsen.

 

[Carlito]

FFP hasnt gone, but its not my concern, my concern is adding players to a squad we have now manageable numbers.

And I never said we had to wait for anybody's contracts to expire, I said we need rubbish out the door.

We had Bernie half out the door the last window, Delph and Iwobi will be harder to shift of course, but I meant, if we want to upgrade our CBs, then 1 CB should go, same for all other positions if we sell Kean, he needs replacing, Tosun with being injured will be hard, but not impossible.

Its basic squad building, 1 out 1 in, I never mentioned money, the majority of the players will probably be loans out or nominal fees, so we ain't getting like for like cash wise anyway.

My overriding point is that numbers-wise the squad is finally in a good spot, so if we can, keep it as it is.

At least your funny posts make up for this sort of tripe.

 

[Bluestar]

I think he was personally. Limited options and pulled the trigger on him last minute.

Possibly but it's brands job to identify and undertake a strategy for the club not any particular manager.

He represents what is available in the winter window. He was low risk experienced cover On a short contract. That was a good plan in my book.

The strategy for the last few seasons has been firefighting and plugging gaps as best as possible. We’ve had a youth team transfer ban for most of his time here and have been on the back foot for most of it because of the squad he inherited. It won’t finally unwind until summer 22.

 

[PhilRegan]

Lossl was a free signing for goalkeeping cover. Why is that a failure?

The signings have to be put in context with the squad needs and the actual transfers in each window. It appears to me that each window we have had more urgent needs than available budget. It is always a balancing act, addressing the highest priorities and finding a way to paper over other areas.

Not signing Lossl would have meant either no cover or spending a big slice of the transfer budget on a backup keeper. Who would you not have signed last summer, Doucoure, James, Allan or Godfrey, because that is the reality.

Lossl and King are both cheap cover. Bernard was signed on a free and played well enough that first season. He will be sold this summer and still has actual residual value.

Olsen is a loan and has given Pickford competition. We needed experienced cover on a budget and that’s exactly what he is. He has been fine for our budget.

Mina is no failure either. In fact by previous standards he is a roaring success. A player that would still command a decent transfer fee.

Brands stated with a massive (47) number of full time professionals on the books and has got it down to the right number. (27). This has not been a normal situation. He started with a sprawling and chaotic squad, with players like Sandro, Niasse, Bolasie, Schniderlin, Tosun, Martina, Pennington, Besic, Mirallas, McCarthy, Onyekuru, Dowell, Vlasic, Stekelenberg, Lookman, Klassen, Williams, Jagielka etc..

All of those consumed salary and not many returned (or will return) a fee. That is the magnitude of the problem he faced.

Lossl was surplus to requirements as soon as he signed. It was a failure because he didn't play added to the deadwood wage crew.

Yes but some of the areas have been at emergency status since he's been here. If it was a balancing act then surely have that many central defenders and central midfielders on the books and only 1 single right sided player in coleman defeats that argument from the off set.

Not signing lossl means we signed somebody else like you mentioned there's context to each player. That may or may not be the reality none of us actually know what the budget was or if there was any budget remaining. What we did know is that we were short in crucial areas across the pitch and still are.

They are not cover though if they're not playing they're just there picking a wage up. If they are not good enough they should not be signed. Bernard has delivered little , profit wise depends on how much we have paid out on wages to him. As he hasn't been sold that argument remains obsolete and he continues to be a poor buy.

Olsen is arguably worse than pickford , I can imagine pickford knows this aswell. What's the budget?

Mina is a roaring success for Brands record I agree with that, but for Everton I'd say less so. Performances have been average as a median overall. I cant see us receiving over 27 million for him.

You are correct the numbers have dropped dramatically but Brands mostly has simply used father time to do this and allowed contracts to run out. He hasn't really recieved that much in terms of transfer fees and return on the investment. With besic and tosun still actually on the books.

Unfortunately he has still got this problem and also added to this problem

 

[Goat]

At least your funny posts make up for this sort of tripe.

Curious on which position you think we lack numbers?

 

[PhilRegan]

He represents what is available in the winter window. He was low risk experienced cover On a short contract. That was a good plan in my book.

The strategy for the last few seasons has been firefighting and plugging gaps as best as possible. We’ve had a youth team transfer ban for most of his time here and have been on the back foot for most of it because of the squad he inherited. It won’t finally unwind until summer 22.

In my opinion he just should not signed him in the first place. Its a waste of resources and short sighted.

Hes arguably added to the fire though with some of his buys, you could also say he's moved the fire to other areas leaving us short of options in crucial areas. The academy ban is for 10-18 year olds. That shouldn't really effect the firefighting job you mentioned.

 

[Carlito]

Curious on which position you think we lack numbers?

Everywhere except centre-back and left-mid.

 

[Goat]

Everywhere except centre-back and left-mid.

Do you mean the quality or quanitity?

Cos I only mean quantity.

And if you mean quantity, how many players would you have in your squad??

 

[BornBlue76]

Completely missed this. Good to have that continuity...

 

[Bluestar]

In my opinion he just should not signed him in the first place. Its a waste of resources and short sighted.

Hes arguably added to the fire though with some of his buys, you could also say he's moved the fire to other areas leaving us short of options in crucial areas. The academy ban is for 10-18 year olds. That shouldn't really effect the firefighting job you mentioned.

Backup is always viewed as a waste of resources if they don’t play. I take a different view on this one. I didn’t want King at all on a long contract but was fine with half a season. We could easily have had injuries that led to him getting more playing time. There was a huge clamour for more forward cover in January. I think this was the right compromise.

He has made some duds I agree, Iwobi and Delph being the big ones. Bernard is not a success either, but not a total disaster like many of Walsh’s. He does contribute when played and I think there are mor3 times when he should have been brought on.

I think my main point is that we have had more squad needs than budget. Maintaining a normal 27 man squad probably means about 4-5 new signings a season. We have probably needed to sign 7-8 whilst shifting 14-15. It’s been crackers, a very abnormal situation and unachievable really. The club recognise this and that is why Brands has a new contract. Morshi has not been shy of sacking people, so if he didn’t think he was doing what is required of him, I’m sure he would be gone.